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EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, 9/e,ACTIVE LEARNING EDITION



C L U S T E R 1

Teachers, Teaching, andEducational Psychology

Teacher’s Casebook: What

Would You Do? 1

Module 1: Teachers, Teaching,

and Educational Psychology 2

Teacher-StudentRelationships 2

Teacher Preparation

and Quali ty 3

Inside Four Classrooms 4

Expert Knowledge 5

Beginning Teachers 6

The Role of Educational

Psychology: Is It Just

Common Sense? 8

Using Research to Understandand Improve Teaching 10

Teachers’ Casebook: What

Would They Do? 17



If you are like many students, you begin this course

with a mixture of anticipation and wariness. Perhaps

you are required to take educational psychology as part

of a program in teacher education, speech therapy, nurs-

ing, or counseling. You may have chosen this class as an

elective. Whatever your reason for enrolling, you proba-

bly have questions about teaching, schools, students—or

even about yourself—that you hope this course may

answer. I have written the 9th edition of Educational

Psychology with questions such as these in mind.

In this first module, we begin with education—more

specifically, with teaching today. Teachers have been both

criticized as ineffective and lauded as the best hope for

young people. Do teachers make a difference in students’

learning? What characterizes good teaching? Only when

you are aware of the challenges and possibilities of

teaching and learning today can you appreciate the

contributions of educational psychology. After a brief

introduction to the world of the teacher, we turn to a

discussion of educational psychology itself. How can

principles identified by educational psychologists benefit

teachers, therapists, parents, and others who are inter-

ested in teaching and learning? What exactly is the con-

tent of educational psychology, and where does this

information come from?

Teachers’ Casebook

What Would You Do?

It is your second year as a teacher at the Riverside

Combined Campus (Kindergarten–8th grade). The dis-trict has just received money from the state and a pri-

vate foundation to give three awards in your school for

“excellence in teaching.” The principal wants the

teachers’ recommendations about how to choose the

recipients of these awards, so a committee is formed,

composed of experienced teachers and one beginner—

you. When the principal asked you to serve on the

committee, you felt you had to say yes. All week the

Teachers’ Lounge has been buzzing with discussion

about the awards. Some teachers are suspicious—they

fear the decisions will be purely political. Others are

glad to see teaching honored. Names are mentioned as

“sure winners” and a few teachers who seldom speak

to you have become very friendly ever since the com-

mittee membership was announced. The first meeting

is next week. How will you prepare for it?

Critical Thinking

What do you need to know about teaching to com-

plete this task? What are some indicators of excel-

lent teaching? Do different philosophies of teaching

provide different answers to this question? What

are your recommendations, and how would you

back them up?

Collaboration

With 3 or 4 other members of your class, draw a

concept map or web that graphically depicts “good

teaching.” For an example of a concept map, see“Figure 21.2: Amy’s Molecule” in Module 21.

Atonement (1996) by Tunde Afolayan. Courtesy of the artist and PaintingsDIRECT (http://www.PaintingsDIRECT.com).



Before we consider what defines good teaching, let’s examine a more basic question:Does teaching really matter? For a while, some researchers reported findings sug-gesting that wealth and social status, not teaching, were the major factors determin-ing who learned in schools (e.g., Coleman, 1966). In fact, much of the early researchon teaching was conducted by educational psychologists who refused to accept theseclaims that teachers were powerless in the face of poverty and societal problems

(Wittrock, 1986).How could you decide if teaching makes a difference? You could look to your own

experience. Were there teachers who had an impact on your life? Describing teacherswho made a difference for him, Harvard professor Robert Coles (1990) said:

I mention these teachers in my life because, in fact, they continue to be a greatbig part of it still. Their voices are in my head and are part of my voice, I am sure.Their thoughts and values inform what I consider and call my own thoughts andvalues. Their example—the things they did, the style of their teaching, the strate-gies they employed—continue to inform the way I work. (p. 59)

For Robert Coles, the teachers he has had continue to affect his life. But one of the purposes of educational psychology in general and this text in particular is to gobeyond individual experiences and testimonies, powerful as they are, to examinelarger groups. Three studies speak to the power of teachers in the lives of students.The first followed 179 children from kindergarten through eighth grade. The second

was a large-scale policy study of thousands of students and teachers in all 50 of theUnited States. The final study examined math achievement for students as they moved through 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades.

Teacher-Student RelationshipsBridgett Harme and Robert Pianta (2001) followed all the children in a small schooldistrict who entered kindergarten one year and continued in the school districtthrough the 8th grade. The researchers concluded that the quality of the teacher-student relationship in kindergarten (defined in terms of level of conflict with thechild, the child’s dependency on the teacher, and the teacher’s affection for the child)predicted a number of academic and behavioral outcomes through the 8th grade,particularly for students with high levels of behavior problems. Even when the gen-der, ethnicity, cognitive ability, and behavior ratings of the student were accountedfor, the relationship with the teacher still predicted aspects of school success. The re-searchers concluded that “the association between the quality of early teacher-childrelationships and later school performance can be both strong and persistent”(p. 636). Based on the results of this carefully conducted study, it appears that stu-dents with significant behavior problems in the early years are less likely to have prob-

CLUSTER 1: Teachers, Teaching, and Educational Psychology2

TO YOUR TEACHINGWhat are the goals of education,real

and ideal? What does it mean to bean educated person? What makes ateacher effective? Describe the mosteffective teacher you ever had.How doyou learn best? What do you hope togain from this course? Your answerswill provide the basis for developing aphilosophy of teaching.

C O N N E C T & E X T E N D

By the time you have finishedthis module, you should be ableto answer these questions:

■ Does teaching matter?

■ What is good teaching?

■ What do expert teachers know?

■ What are the greatest con-cerns of beginning teachers?

■ Why should I study educa-tional psychology?

■ What roles do theory and research play in this field?

Teachers, Teaching, andEducational Psychology

M O D U L E 1



lems later in school if their teachers are sensitive to their needs and provide frequent,consistent feedback. Read the Stories of Learning: Tributes to Teaching feature to put aface on the power of positive teacher-student relationships.

Teacher Preparation and Quality

Using data from a 50-state survey of policies, state case study analyses, the 1993–94Schools and Staffing Surveys, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP),Linda Darling-Hammond (2000) examined the ways in which teacher qual-ifications are related to student achievement across states.Her findings indicated thatthe quality of teachers—as measured by whether the teachers were fully certified andhad a major in their teaching field—was related to student performance. In fact, mea-sures of teacher preparation and certification were by far the strongest predictors of student achievement in reading and mathematics, both before and after controllingfor student poverty and English language proficiency.For example, look at Table 1.1.All the correlations in the first row of this table are positive and significant. Thismeans that the higher the percentage of teachers with full certification and a majorin their teaching field, the higher is their students’ achievement in math and in read-ing. All but one of the correlations in the second row are negative and significant. Thisindicates that the higher the percentage of teachers who are teaching outside of theirfield, the lower is their students’ achievement. So there is evidence that more quali-

fied teachers make a difference in student learning. (Later in the module we will look closely at how to interpret these statistics.)

Finally, researchers studied how students are affected by having several effectiveor ineffective teachers in a row (Sanders & Rivers, 1996). They looked at 5th gradersin two large metropolitan school systems in Tennessee. Students who had highly effective teachers for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades scored an average of 83rd percentile ona standardized mathematics achievement test in one district and 96th percentile inthe other (99th percentile is the highest possible score). In contrast, students who hadthe least effective teachers three years in a row averaged 29th percentile in mathachievement in one district and 44th percentile in the other—a difference of over 50percentile points in both cases! Students with average teachers or with a mixture of low, average, and high effectiveness teachers for the three years had math scores be-tween these extremes. Sanders and Rivers concluded that the best teachers encour-aged good to excellent gains in achievement for all students, but lower achievingstudents were the first to benefit from good teaching. The effects of teaching were cu-

mulative and residual—that is, better teaching in a later grade could make up in part for less effective teaching in earlier grades, but could not erase all the deficits.

www.ablongman.com/woolfolk MODULE 1: Teachers, Teaching, and Educational Psychology3

Correlations between Teacher Quality Variables and Student Achievement on the

National Assessment of Educational Progress (controlling for student poverty).

Table 1.1

Percent of teachers well-qualified (withfull certification and a major in their field)

Percent of teachers out of field (with lessthan a minor in the field they teach)

Grade 4

Reading, 1992

.80**

–.56*

Grade 4

Reading, 1994

.75**

–.33*

* p < .05** p < .01

SOURCE: From “Teacher Quality and Student Achievement:A Review of State Policy Evidence,”by L. Darling-Hammond,2000, Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 8,pp.1–48. http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8n1/. Copyright ©Educational Policy Analysis Archives.Adapted with permission of the EPAA.

Grade 4

Math, 1992

.71**

–.48*

Grade 4

Math, 1996

.61**

–.44*

Grade 8

Math, 1996

.67**

–.42*

TO THE RESEARCHFor another perspective on teacherquality and teacher preparation,seeBorko et al.(2000). Teacher educationdoes matter:A situative view of learn-ing to teach secondary mathematics. Educational Psychologist, 35, 193–206.




Well-qualified teachers who establish positive relationships with their studentsappear to be a powerful force in those students’ lives. Students who have problemsseem to benefit the most from good teaching—so what is good teaching? There arehundreds of answers to this question. It has been examined by educators, psycholo-gists, philosophers, novelists, journalists, mathematicians, scientists, historians,policymakers, and parents, to name only a few groups.And good teaching is not con-fined to classrooms—it occurs in homes and hospitals, museums and sales meetings,therapists’ offices and summer camps. In this book, we are primarily concerned withteaching in classrooms, but much of what you will learn applies to other settingsas well.

Inside Four ClassroomsTo begin our examination of good teaching, let’s step inside the classrooms of severaloutstanding teachers. All the situations that follow are real. The first two teachersworked with my student teachers in local elementary schools. I have chosen them be-cause one of my former colleagues at Rutgers, Carol Weinstein, has written aboutthem in her book on classroom management (Weinstein & Mignano,2003). The nexttwo are secondary school teachers who have been studied by other educationalpsychologists.

A Bilingual 1st Grade. There are 25 students in Viviana’s class. Most have recently emigrated from the Dominican Republic; the rest come from Nicaragua, Mexico,Puerto Rico, and Honduras. Even though the children speak little or no Englishwhen they begin school, by the time they leave in June, Viviana has helped themmaster the normal 1st-grade curriculum for their district. She accomplishes this by teaching in Spanish early in the year to aid understanding, then gradually introduc-ing English as the students are ready. Viviana does not want her students segregatedor labeled as disadvantaged. She encourages them to take pride in their Spanish-speaking heritage while using every available opportunity to support their develop-ing English proficiency.

Viviana’s expectations for her students are high, and she makes sure the studentshave the resources they need.She provides materials—pencils, scissors, crayons—so nochild lacks the means to learn. And she supplies constant encouragement. “Viviana’scommitment to her students is evident in her 1st-grade bilingual classroom.With an en-

ergy level that is rare, she motivates, prods,instructs,models, praises, and captivates herstudents. . . . The pace is brisk and Viviana clearly has a flair for the dramatic; she usesmusic, props, gestures, facial expressions, and shifts in voice tone to communicate thematerial” (Weinstein & Mignano, 2003, p. 14). To know more about her students each

year, she visits their homes. For Viviana, teaching is a not just a job; it is a way of life.

A Suburban 5th Grade. Ken teaches 5th grade in a suburban elementary school incentral New Jersey. Ken emphasizes “process writing.” His students complete firstdrafts, discuss them with others in the class,revise, edit, and “publish” their work. Thestudents also keep daily journals and often use these to share personal concerns withKen. They tell him of problems at home, fights,and fears; he always takes the time torespond in writing.The study of science is also placed in the context of the real world.They learn about ocean ecosystems by using a software program called A Field Trip to the Sea (Sunburst, 1999). For social studies, the class plays two simulation gamesthat focus on history. One is on coming of age in Native American cultures and the

other is on the colonization of America.Throughout the year Ken is very interested in the social and emotional develop-ment of his students—he wants them to learn about responsibility and fairness aswell as science and social studies. This concern is evident in the way he develops hisclass rules at the beginning of the year. Rather than specifying dos and don’ts, Ken and


TO OTHER MODULESKen’s process writing, studentpublishing, and journal writing areexamples of a “whole language”approach,discussed in Module 36.Ken’s “Bill of Rights”is an exampleof an innovative approach to settingclass rules,discussed in Module 31.


TO PRAXIS™

TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM(IV, A2)Begin your own development by read-ing educational publications. Onewidely read periodical is EducationWeek. You can access it online atwww.edweek.com.




his students devise a “Bill of Rights” for the class, describing the rights of the students.These rights cover most of the situations that might need a “rule.”

Two Advanced Math Classes. Hilda Borko and Carol Livingston (1989) describetwo expert secondary school mathematics teachers. In one lesson for her advancedmathematics class, Ellen had her students identify any three problems about ellipsesfrom their text. She asked if there were any questions or uncertainties about theseproblems. Ellen answered student questions, worked two of the problems, and thenused the three problems to derive all the concepts and equations the students neededto understand the material. Ellen’s knowledge of both the subject and her studentswas so thorough that she could create the explanations and derive the formulas on thespot, no matter which problems the students chose.

Another teacher,Randy,worked with his students’ confusion to construct a review lesson about strategies for doing integrals. When one student said that a particularsection in the book seemed “haphazard,” Randy led the class through a process of or-ganizing the material. He asked the class for general statements about useful strategiesfor doing integrals.He clarified their suggestions,elaborated on some, and helped stu-dents improve others. He asked the students to tie their ideas to passages in the text.Even though he accepted all reasonable suggestions,he listed only the key strategies onthe board. By the end of the period, the students had transformed the disorganizedmaterial from the book into an ordered and useful outline to guide their learning.They also had a better idea about how to read and understand difficult material.

What do you see in these classrooms? The teachers are committed to their stu-dents. They must deal with a wide range of student abilities and challenges: differentlanguages, different home lives, different needs.These teachers must understand theirsubjects and their students’ thinking so well that they can spontaneously create new examples and explanations when students are confused. They must make the mostabstract concepts, such as integrals, real and understandable for their particular stu-dents. And then there is the challenge of new technologies and techniques. The teach-ers must use them appropriately to accomplish important goals, not just to entertainthe students. The whole time that these experts are navigating through the academicmaterial, they also are taking care of the emotional needs of their students,proppingup sagging self-esteem and encouraging responsibility. If we followed these individ-uals from the first day of class, we would see that they carefully plan and teach thebasic procedures for living and learning in their classes. They can efficiently correctand collect homework, regroup students, give directions, distribute materials, collectlunch money, and deal with disruptions—and do all of this while also making a men-tal note to check why one of their students is so tired.

Viviana,Ken, Ellen, and Randy are examples of expert teachers,the focus of muchrecent research in education and psychology.For another perspective on the question“What is good teaching?” let’s examine this research on what expert teachers know.

Expert KnowledgeExpert teachers have elaborate systems of knowledge for understanding problems inteaching. For example, when a beginning teacher is faced with students’ wrong an-swers on math or history tests, all the wrong answers may seem about the same—wrong. But for an expert teacher, wrong answers are part of a rich system of knowledgethat could include how to recognize several types of wrong answers, the misunder-standing or lack of information behind each kind of mistake, the best way to reteachand correct the misunderstanding, materials and activities that have worked in thepast, and several ways to test whether the reteaching was successful (Floden & Klinz-ing, 1990; Leinhardt, 1988). Peterson and Comeaux (1989) argue that it is the quality of teachers’ professional knowledge and their ability to be aware of their own thinkingthat make them expert. These teachers are reflective practitioners.


TO THE RESEARCHAnother excellent teacher is describedin the Harvard Education Letter.

Robert Moses,founder of theAlgebra Project at the Martin LutherKing School in Cambridge, Massachu-setts,teaches students the concept of number and sign through a physicalevent: they go for a ride on a subway.Choosing one subway stop as a start-ing point, students relate inbound andoutbound to positive and negativenumbers.They translate their subway ride into mathematical language by considering both the number of stops

and their direction.By givi ng studentssuch experiences before introducingthe formal language of algebra,Moses . . . has made math moreenjoyable and accessible.(Ruopp & Driscoll,1990,p.5)


Expert teachers Experienced, effec-tive teachers who have developed solu-tions for common classroom problems.Their knowledge of teaching process andcontent is extensive and well organized.

Reflective Thoughtful and i nventive.Reflective teachers think back over situa-tions to analyze what they did and why and to consider how they might improvelearning for their students.



What do expert teachers know that allows them to be so success-ful? Lee Shulman (1987) has studied this question, and he has identi-fied seven areas of professional knowledge. Expert teachers know:

1. The academic subjects they teach.

2. General teaching strategies that apply in all subjects (such as theprinciples of classroom management, effective teaching, and

evaluation that you will discover in this book).

3. The curriculum materials and programs appropriate for theirsubject and grade level.

4. Subject-specific knowledge for teaching: special ways of teachingcertain students and particular concepts, such as the best ways toexplain negative numbers to lower-ability students.

5. The characteristics and cultural backgrounds of learners.

6. The settings in which students learn—pairs, small groups,teams, classes, schools, and the community.

7. The goals and purposes of teaching.

This is quite a list. Obviously, one course cannot give you all the in-formation you need to teach. In fact, a whole program of courseswon’t make you an expert. That takes time and experience. Butstudying educational psychology can add to your professionalknowledge because at the heart of educational psychology is a con-cern with learning wherever it occurs.

No person can learn for another; students create their own knowledge and skills.The teacher’s role is to orchestrate materials, tasks, environments, conversations,andexplorations that encourage and support learning and the increasing independenceof their students. To become such a teacher, you will need to know about your stu-dents, learning,motivating, teaching,and assessing.How do you grow from beginningteacher to expert? Can you learn to be an expert teacher, or are really great teachers

just born? Is good teaching an art or a science? See the Point/Counterpoint for a closerlook at this last question.

You may be thinking that all this talk about expert teachers and expert knowledgeis a bit idealistic and abstract. Right now, you may have other, more down-to-earth,concerns about becoming a teacher. You are not alone!

Beginning TeachersImagine walking into your first day of teaching. List the concerns, fears, and

worries you have. What assets do you bring to the job?

Beginning teachers everywhere share many concerns. A review of studies conductedaround the world found that beginning teachers regard maintaining classroom dis-cipline, motivating students, accommodating differences among students, evaluatingstudent work,and dealing with parents as the most serious challenges they face.Many teachers also experience what has been called “reality shock”when they take their first

job and confront the “harsh and rude reality of everyday classroom life” (Veenman,1984, p. 143). One source of shock may be that teachers really cannot ease into theirresponsibilities. On the first day of their first job, beginning teachers face the same

tasks as teachers with years of experience. Student teaching, while a critical element,does not really prepare prospective teachers for starting off a school year with a new class. If you listed any of these concerns in the Stop/Think/Write box above, youshouldn’t be troubled. They come with the job of being a beginning teacher (Borko& Putnam, 1996; Cooke & Pang, 1991;Veenman, 1984).


Expert teachers not only know the content of the subjects they teach, they also know how to relate this

content to the world outside the classroom and howto keep students involved in learning.

TO OTHER MODULESTeachers’knowledge of their own

thinking is an example of meta-cognitive knowledge,discussed inModule 20.


STOP

THINK

WRITE




But even with these concerns, you don’t have to wait for years to become a goodteacher.I have worked with many students who are excellent, even during their prac-tice teaching experiences.

P o i n t / C o u n t e r p o i n t

Is good teaching science or art, teacher-centered lecture or stu-dent-centered discovery,the application of general theories or

the invention of situation-specific practices? Is a good teacher agood explainer or a good questioner, a “sage on the stage” or a“guide by the side”? These debates have raged for years. In yourother education classes you probably will encounter criticismsof the scientific,teacher-centered, theory-based,lecturing,sages.You will be encouraged to be artistic, inventive,student-centered, questioning guides. Is this the right path? Let’s seewhat the arguments are.

Teaching is a theory-based science.Psychologists have spent decades studying how children think and feel,how learning occurs,what influences motivation, andhow teaching affects learning.These general and abstract con-ceptions apply to a wide range of situations—why should

teachers have to reinvent all this knowledge? In Module 36 youwill see one set of teacher characteristics and behaviors thatare related to student learning:knowledge, clarity, enthusiasm,and direct or active teaching (Shuell,1996). An effective teacherreviews,explains, checks for understanding,and reteaches if necessary, always keeping the level or difficulty and the pace

just right to keep students learning.Advocates note thatignoring the direct teaching of skills can be detrimental forsome children.For example,Harris and Graham (1996)describe the experiences of their daughter Leah in a whole-language/progressive education school, where the teacherssuccessfully developed their daughter’s creativity, thinking, andunderstanding.

Skills, on the other hand, have been a problem for our daughter and for other children.At the end of kindergarten,when she had not made much progress in reading, her teacher said she believed Leah had a perceptual problem or a learning disability. Leahbegan asking what was wrong with her, because other kids werereading and she wasn’t. Finally, an assessment was done. (p. 26)

The testing indicated no learning disability, strong comprehen-sion abilities,and poor word attack skills.Luckily,Leah’s par-ents knew how to teach word attack skills.Direct teaching of these skills helped Leah become an avid and able reader inabout six weeks.

Teaching is an art—a creative reflective process.Other educators believe that the mark of an excellent teacher isnot the ability to apply techniques but the artistry of being re-

flective—thoughtful and inventive—about teaching (Schon,1983).Educators who adopt this view tend to be more con-

cerned with how teachers plan, solve problems,create instruc-tion, and make decisions than they are with the specifictechniques teachers apply (Borko,1989; Peterson & Comeaux,1989).They believe teaching “is specific with respect to task,time, place,par ticipants,and content,and that different sub-

jects vary in those specifics”(Leinhardt, 2001,p. 334). Thusteaching is so complex that it must be invented anew withevery new subject and class.And good teachers are not “sageson the stage,” spouting knowledge, but rather “guides by theirstudents’ sides.” Critics of direct,teacher-centered teachingclaim that breaking material into small segments, presentingeach segment clearly, and reinforcing or correcting, istrans-mitting accurate understandings from teacher to student.The student is viewed as an “empty vessel”waiting to befilled with knowledge,rather than an active constructor of knowledge.

Beware of either/or choices.Most people agree that teachers must be both technically competent and inventive. They must be able to use a range of strategies,and they must also be able to invent new strategies.They must have some simple routines for managing classes,but they must also be willing and able to break from the rou-tine when the situation calls for change. And teachers needboth general theories and situation-specific insights. They need “understandings of students in general—patterns com-mon to particular ages,culture, social class,geography,andgender; patterns in typical student conceptions of the subjectmatter”(Ball, 1997, p.773) and they also need to know theirown students.“Face to face with actual children who areparticular ages and gender,culture and class, teachersmust see individuals against a backdrop of sociologicaland psychological generalizations about groups” (p.773).The theories you encounter in this text should be used ascognitive tools to help you examine,inspect, and interpretthe claims you will hear and read throughout your career(Leinhardt,2001).

Personally,I hope you all become teachers who both are“sages”about your subject and “on your students’sides”wherever you stand.

What do you think? Vote online atwww.ablongman.com/woolfolk

What Is Good Teaching?

C o u n t e r p o i n t

P o i n t



With experience, most teachers meet the challenges that seem difficult for be-ginners. They have more time to experiment with new methods or materials. Finally,as confidence grows, seasoned teachers can focus on the students’ needs. At this ad-vanced stage, teachers judge their success by the successes of their students (Feiman-Nemser, 1983; Fuller, 1969; Putnam & Borko, 1997). Or as Esme’s mentor teacheronce told her,“The difference between a beginning teacher and an experienced oneis that the beginning teacher asks, ‘How am I doing?’ and the experienced teacherasks,‘How are the children doing?’ ” (Codell, 2001, p. 191).

I have talked about good teachers because that is what many of you are plan-ning to become. But all good teaching begins with an understanding of students andlearning —and an understanding of educational psychology.

The Role of Educational Psychology:Is It Just Common Sense?For as long as educational psychology has existed—about 90 years—there have beendebates about what it really is. Some people believe educational psychology is simply knowledge gained from psychology and applied to the activities of the classroom.Others believe it involves applying the methods of psychology to study classroom andschool life (Clifford, 1984; Grinder, 1981).

The view generally accepted today is that educational psychology is a distinctdiscipline with its own theories, research methods, problems, and techniques.“Edu-cational psychology is distinct from other branches of psychology because it has theunderstanding and improvement of education as its primary goal” (Wittrock, 1992,p. 138). Both in the past and today, educational psychologists study learning andteaching and, at the same time, strive to improve educational practice (Pintrich,2000). But are the findings of educational psychologists really that helpful for teach-

ers? After all, most teaching is just common sense, isn’t it? Let’s take a few minutes toexamine these questions.In many cases, the principles set forth by educational psychologists—after spend-

ing much thought, time, and money—sound pathetically obvious. People aretempted to say, and usually do say, “Everyone knows that!” Consider these examples:


Teaching is one of the few professions in which a new teacher must assume all of the responsibilities of an experienced“pro” during the first week on the job.

Veteran teachers can be an excellentsource of information and support duringthese early weeks.

Educational psychology The disci-pline concerned with teaching and learn-ing processes; applies the methods andtheories of psychology and has its ownas well.

TO THE RESEARCHThe Spring 2001 issue of Educational Psychologist, 36 (2), is devoted to“Educational Psychology : Yesterday,Today, and Tomorrow”w ith articlesabout self-regulated learning, class-room management,teacher expectancy effects, program development, andconceptions of learning.




Taking Turns. What method should a teacher use in selecting students to partici-pate in a primary grade reading class?

Common Sense Answer. Teachers should call on students randomly so that every-one will have to follow the lesson carefully. If a teacher were to use the same orderevery time, the students would know when their turn was coming up.

Answer Based on Research. Years ago, research by Ogden, Brophy, and Evertson(1977) found that the answer to this question is not so simple. In 1st-grade readingclasses, for example, going around the circle in order and giving each child a chanceto read led to better overall achievement than calling on students randomly. The crit-ical factor in going around the circle may be that each child gets a chance to partici-pate. Without some system for calling on everyone,many students can be overlookedor skipped. Research suggests there are better alternatives for teaching reading thangoing around the circle, but teachers should make sure that everyone has the chancefor practice and feedback whatever approach is used (Tierney, Readence, & Dishner,1990). See Module 36 for more on teaching reading.

Helping Students. When should teachers provide help for lower achieving stu-dents as they do class work?

Common Sense Answer. Teachers should offer help often. After all, these lower

achieving students may not know when they need help or may be too embarrassedto ask for help.

Answer Based on Research. Sandra Graham (1996) found that when teachersprovide help before students ask, the students and others watching are more likelyto conclude that the helped student does not have the ability to succeed. The stu-dent is more likely to attribute failures to lack of ability instead of lack of effort. SeeModule 28 for more information on the unintended messages of well-intendedteacher actions.

Skipping Grades. Should a school encourage exceptionally bright students to skipgrades or to enter college early?


These students are participating in true“hands-on” cooperative learning. Willtheir knowledge of science improve usingthis approach? Are there better ways tolearn in biology? Educational researchshould shed light on questions like these.



Common Sense Answer. No! Very intelligent students who are a year or two younger than their classmates are likely to be social misfits. They are neither physi-cally nor emotionally ready for dealing with older students and would be miserablein the social situations that are so important in school, especially in the later grades.

Answer Based on Research. Maybe. According to Samuel Kirk and his colleagues(1993), “From early admissions to school to early admissions to college, researchstudies invariably report that children who have been accelerated have adjusted aswell as or better than have children of similar ability who have not been accelerated”(p. 105).Whether acceleration is the best solution for a student depends on many spe-cific individual characteristics, including the intelligence and maturity of the student,and on the other available options. For some students, moving quickly through thematerial and working in advanced courses with older students is a very good idea. SeeModule 11 for more on adapting teaching to students’ abilities.

Obvious Answers? Lily Wong (1987) demonstrated that just seeing research re-sults in writing can make them seem obvious. She selected 12 findings from researchon teaching; one of them was the “taking turns” result noted above. She presented six of the findings in their correct form and six in exactly the opposite form to college stu-dents and to experienced teachers.Both the college students and teachers rated abouthalf of the wrong findings as “obviously”correct. In a follow-up study, another groupof subjects was shown the 12 findings and their opposites and was asked to pick which

ones were correct. For 8 of the 12 findings, the subjects chose the wrong result moreoften than the right one.

You may have thought that educational psychologists spend their time discover-ing the obvious. The preceding examples point out the danger of this kind of think-ing. When a principle is stated in simple terms, it can sound simplistic. A similarphenomenon takes place when we see a gifted dancer or athlete perform; the well-trained performer makes it look easy. But we see only the results of the training, notall the work that went into mastering the individual movements. And bear in mindthat any research finding—or its opposite—may sound like common sense. The issueis not what sounds sensible, but what is demonstrated when the principle is put to thetest (Gage, 1991).

Using Research to Understand

and Improve Teaching Quickly, list all the different research methods you can name.

Conducting research to test possible relationships is one of two major tasks of edu-cational psychology. The other is combining the results of various studies into theo-ries that attempt to present a unified view of such things as teaching, learning, anddevelopment.

Descriptive Studies. Educational psychologists design and conduct many differ-ent kinds of research studies. Some of these are “descriptive,” that is, their purpose issimply to describe events in a particular class or several classes.Reports of descriptivestudies often include survey results, interview responses,samples of actual classroomdialogue, or audio and video records of the class activities.

One descriptive approach, classroom ethnography , is borrowed from anthro-pology. Ethnographic methods involve studying the naturally occurring events in thelife of a group and trying to understand the meaning of these events to the people in-volved. For example, the descriptions of expert high school mathematics teachers in


STOP

THINK

WRITE

TO THE RESEARCHRead and discuss the article by Gage,N. L.(1991). The obviousness of social and educational research results. Educational Researcher, 20 (1),10–16.Focus Questions: What makes findings

in educational research seem “obvi-ous”? What is the danger in this kindof thinking?


Descriptive studies Studies that col-lect detailed information about specificsituations,often using observation, sur-veys,interv iews, recordings,or a combi-nation of these methods.

Ethnography A descriptive approachto research that focuses on life within agroup and tries to understand the mean-ing of events to the people involved.




the opening pages of this module were taken from an ethnographic study by Borkoand Livingston (1989). The researchers made detailed observations in the teachers’classes and analyzed these observations,along with audio recordings and informationfrom interviews with the teachers, in order to describe differences between noviceand expert teachers.

In some descriptive studies the researcher uses participant observation andworks within the class or school to understand the actions from the perspectives of the teacher and the students. Researchers also may employ case studies. A case study investigates in depth how a teacher plans courses, for example, or how a student triesto learn specific material.

Correlational Studies. Often the results of descriptive studies include reports of correlations. We will take a minute to examine this concept, because you need aknowledge of correlations to fully understand Table 1.1 and you will encounter many other correlations in the coming modules. A correlation is a number that indicatesboth the strength and the direction of a relationship between two events or measure-ments. Correlations range from 1.00 to –1.00. The closer the correlation is to either1.00 or –1.00, the stronger the relationship. For example, the correlation betweenheight and weight is about .70 (a strong relationship); the correlation between heightand number of languages spoken is about .00 (no relationship at all).

The sign of the correlation tells the direction of the relationship. A positivecorrelation indicates that the two factors increase or decrease together. As one getslarger, so does the other. Height and weight are positively correlated because greaterheight tends to be associated with greater weight. As you saw in Table 1.1, the corre-lation between the percent of teachers with full teaching credentials and students’math achievement is positive (as the percent of fully credentialed teachers increases,student math achievement increases as well). A negative correlation means that in-creases in one factor are related to decreases in the other. Table 1.1 indicated that asthe number of teachers without either a major or a minor in math increases, studentmath achievement decreases.

It is important to note that correlations do not prove cause and effect (see Fig-ure 1.1). Height and weight are correlated—taller people tend to weigh more thanshorter people. But gaining weight obviously does not cause you to grow taller.Know-ing a person’s weight simply allows you to make a general prediction about that per-son’s height. Educational psychologists identify correlations so they can makepredictions about important events in the classroom.

Experimental Studies. A second type of research—experimentation—allows ed-ucational psychologists to go beyond predictions and actually study cause and effect.Instead of just observing and describing an existing situation, the investigators in-troduce changes and note the results. First, a number of comparable groups of sub-

jects are created. In psychological research, the term subjects generally refers to thepeople being studied—such as teachers or 8th graders—not to subjects such as mathor science. One common way to make sure that groups of subjects are essentially thesame is to assign each subject to a group using a random procedure. Random meanseach subject has an equal chance of being in any group.

In one or more of these groups, the experimenters change some aspect of thesituation to see if this change or “treatment” has an expected effect. The results ineach group are then compared. Usually statistical tests are conducted. When differ-ences are described as statistically significant, it means that they probably did nothappen simply by chance. Look at Table 1.1 again. The p < .05 means that theseresults could happen by chance less than 5 times out of 100, and p < .01 means lessthan 1 time in 100. A number of the studies we will examine attempt to identify cause-and-effect relationships by asking questions such as this: If teachers ignorestudents who are out of their seats without permission and praise students who are

TO REAL LIFEPerfect positive (1.0) correlation: theradius of a circle and its circumference.Perfect negative (–1.0) correlation: thenumber of minutes of daylight and thenumber of minutes of dark each day.Less than perfect positive correlation:the cost of a car and the cost of in-suring it.Less than perfect negativecorrelation: cost of a theater ticketand distance from the stage.Zerocorrelation: population of India andthe winning percentage of the NewYork Yankees.


Participant observation A methodfor conducting descriptive research inwhich the researcher becomes a partici-pant in the situation in order to betterunderstand life in that g roup.

Case study Intensive study of oneperson or one situation.

Correlations Statistical descriptionsof how closely two variables are related.

Positive correlation A relationshipbetween two variables in which the twoincrease or decrease together.Example:calorie intake and weight gain.

Negative correlation A relationshipbetween two variables in which a highvalue on one is associated with a lowvalue on the other. Example: height anddistance from top of head to the ceiling.

Experimentation Research methodin which variables are manipulated andthe effects recorded.

Subjects People or animals studied.

Random Without any definite pattern;following no rule.

Statistically significant Not likely to be a chance occurrence.



working hard at their desks (cause), will students spend more time working at theirdesks (effect)?In many cases, both descriptive and experimental research occur together. The

study about “taking turns” by Ogden, Brophy, and Evertson (1977) described at thebeginning of this section is a good example. In order to answer questions about therelationship between how students are selected to read in a primary-grade class andtheir achievement in reading, these investigators first observed students and teachersin a number of classrooms and then measured the reading achievement of the stu-dents. They found that having students read in a predictable order was associated, orcorrelated, with gains in reading scores.With a simple correlation such as this, how-ever, the researchers could not be sure that the strategy was actually causing the ef-fect. In the second part of the study, Ogden and her colleagues asked several teachersto call on each student in turn. They then compared reading achievement in thesegroups with achievement in groups where teachers used other strategies. This secondpart of the research was thus an experimental study—specifically, a field experiment

because it took place in a real classroom setting and not a laboratory.

Single-Subject Experimental Designs. The goal of single-subject experimentalstudies is to determine the effects of a therapy or teaching method, or other inter-vention. One common approach is to observe the individual for a baseline period(A) and assess the behavior of interest; try an intervention (B) and note the results;then remove the intervention and go back to baseline conditions (A); and finally re-instate the intervention (B). This form of single-subject design is called an ABAB ex-periment. For example, a teacher might record how much students are out of theirseats without permission during a week-long baseline (A), and then try ignoringthose who are up, but praising those who are seated and recording how many arewandering out of their seats for the week (B). Next, the teacher returns to baselineconditions (A) and records results, then reinstates the praise and ignore strategy (B).Years ago, when this very intervention was tested, the praise and ignore strategy proved effective in increasing the time students spent in their seats (Madsen, Becker,

Thomas, Koser, & Plager, 1968).

Microgenetic Studies. The goal of microgenetic research is to intensively study cognitive processes in the midst of change—as the change is actually happening. For


When research shows that landscaped lawns and school achievement arecorrelated, it does not show causation. Community wealth, a third variable,

may be the cause of both school achievement and landscaped lawns.

More Likely AssumptionFaulty Assumption

C o r r e

l a t i o n

C o r r e

l a t i o n

School

achievementLandscaped

lawns

School

achievementLandscaped

lawns

l e a d s t o

C o rrelat i o n

Communitywealth

l e a d s t o

lead to

Cor r ela tio n

TO WHAT YOU KNOW Are the following studies descriptive(D) or experimental (E)? 1. Researchersobserve teachers of classes that havehigh achievement in order to determinehow these teachers are alike. 2. Teach-ers give three groups of impulsive chil-dren different types of training todetermine which type of training ismost effective in reducing impulsivity.3. Researchers administer IQ tests to agroup of boys and girls to determine if there is a relationship between sex andverbal ability. 4. Teachers instruct twosimilar groups of math students bytwo different methods to determine

which method leads to hi gher scoreson a math achievement test.Answers: 1. D 2. E 3. D 4. E


Figure 1.1 Correlations Do Not Show Causation

Single-subject experimentalstudies Systematic interventionsto study effects with one person,oftenby applying and then withdrawing atreatment.

Microgenetic studies Detailed ob-servation and analysis of changes in acognitive process as the process unfoldsover a several day or week period of time.



example, researchers might analyze how children learn a particular strategy foradding two-digit numbers over the course of several weeks. The microgenetic ap-proach has three basic characteristics: (a) researchers observe the entire period of thechange—from when it starts to the time it is relatively stable; (b) many observationsare made, often using videotape recordings, interviews, and transcriptions of theexact words of the individuals being studied; (c) the behavior that is observed is “putunder a microscope,” that is, examined moment by moment or trial by trial. The goalis to explain the underlying mechanisms of change—for example, what new knowl-edge or skills are developing to allow change to take place (Siegler & Crowley, 1991).This kind of research is expensive and time consuming, so often only one or a few children are studied.

The Role of Time in Research. Another distinction is useful in understandingresearch—a distinction based on time. Many things that psychologists want tostudy, such as cognitive development, happen over several months or years. Ideally,researchers would study the development by observing their subjects over many

years as changes occur. These are called longitudinal studies.They are informative,buttime consuming, expensive, and not always practical—keeping up with subjectsover years as they grow up and move can be impossible. So much research is cross-sectional, focusing on groups of children at different ages. For example, to studyhow children’s conceptions of “alive”change from ages 3 to 16, researchers can inter-view children of several different ages, rather than following the same children for14 years.

Theories for Teaching. The major goal of educational psychology is under-standing teaching and learning; research is a primary tool. Reaching this goal is aslow process. There are very few landmark studies that answer a question onceand for all. Human beings are too complicated. Instead, research in educationalpsychology examines limited aspects of a situation—perhaps a few variables at atime or life in one or two classrooms. If enough studies are completed in a certainarea and findings repeatedly point to the same conclusions, we eventually arriveat a principle. This is the term for an established relationship between two ormore factors—between a certain teaching strategy, for example, and studentachievement.

Another tool for building a better understanding of the teaching and learningprocesses is theory. The common sense notion of theory (as in “Oh well, it was only

a theory”) is “a guess or hunch.” But the scientific meaning of theory is quite differ-ent. “A theory in science is an interrelated set of concepts that is used to explain abody of data and to make predictions about the results of future experiments”(Stanovich, 1992, p. 21). Given a number of established principles, educationalpsychologists have developed explanations for the relationships among many vari-ables and even whole systems of relationships. There are theories to explain how language develops, how differences in intelligence occur, and, as noted earlier, how people learn.

Few theories explain and predict perfectly. In this book, you will see many ex-amples of educational psychologists taking different theoretical positions and dis-agreeing on the overall explanations of such issues as learning and motivation.Because no one theory offers all the answers, it makes sense to consider what each hasto offer.

So why, you may ask, is it necessary to deal with theories? Why not just stick toprinciples? The answer is that both are useful. Principles of classroom management,

for example, will give you help with specific problems. A good theory of classroommanagement, on the other hand,will give you a new way of thinking about disciplineproblems; it will give you tools for creating solutions to many different problems andfor predicting what might work in new situations. A major goal of this book is to


Principle Established relationship

between factors. Theory Integrated statement of prin-ciples that attempts to explain a phenom-enon and make predictions.

TO THE RESEARCHKillion,J.P.,& Todnem,G.R.(1991).Aprocess for personal theory building. Educational Leadership,48(6),14–16.Focus Question: Why do teachers needa personal theory for teaching?




provide you with the best and the most useful theories for teaching—those that havesolid evidence behind them.Although you may prefer some theories over others,con-sider them all as ways of understanding the challenges teachers face.

Teachers as Researchers. Research also can be a way to improve teaching in oneclassroom or one school. The same kind of careful observation, intervention, datagathering, and analysis that occurs in large research projects can be applied in any classroom to answer questions such as “Which writing prompts seem to encouragethe best descriptive writing in my class?” “When does Kenyon seem to have thegreatest difficulty concentrating on academic tasks?” “Would assigning task rolesin science groups lead to more equitable participation of girls and boys in thework?” This kind of problem-solving investigation is called action research. By fo-cusing on a specific problem and making careful observations, teachers can learn agreat deal about both their teaching and their students.


Action research Systematic observa-tions or tests of methods conducted by teachers or schools to improve teachingand learning for their students.

What evidence is there that teachers make a differ-

ence? Three studies speak to the power of teachers in thelives of students. The first found that the quality of the teacher-

student relationship in kindergarten predicted several aspects

of school success through the 8th grade. The second study of

thousands of students and teachers in all 50 of the United

States found that teacher quality was the strongest predictor

of student achievement in mathematics and reading.The final

study examined math achievement for students in two large

school districts as they moved through 3rd,4th, and 5th grades.

Again,the quality of the teacher made a difference—students

who had three high quality teachers in a row were way ahead

of students who spent one or more years with less competent

teachers.

What do expert teachers know? It takes time and experi-

ence to become an expert teacher.These teachers have a richstore of well-organized knowledge about the many specific situa-

tions of teaching. This includes knowledge about the subjects

they teach,their students, general teaching strategies, subject-

specific ways of teaching, settings for learning, curriculum

materials, and the goals of education.

What are the concerns of beginning teachers? Learning

to teach is a gradual process. The concerns and problems of

teachers change as they progress. During the beginning years,at-

tention tends to be focused on survival. Maintaining discipline,

motivating students, evaluating students’work,and dealing with

parents are universal concerns for beginning teachers. Even with

these concerns,many beginning teachers bring creativity and en-

ergy to their teaching and improve every year.The more experi-

enced teacher can move on to concerns about professional

growth and effectiveness with a wide range of students.

What is educational psychology? The goals of educational

psychology are to understand and to improve the teaching and

learning processes. Educational psychologists develop knowledge

and methods; they also use the knowledge and methods of psychology and other related disciplines to study learning

and teaching in everyday situations.

Describe descriptive studies. Reports of descriptive studies

often include survey results, interview responses,samples of

actual classroom dialogue, or records of the class activities.

Ethnographic methods involve studying the naturally occurring

events in the life of a group and trying to understand the mean-

ing of these events to the people involved.A case study investi-

gates in depth how a teacher plans courses,for example, or how

a student tries to learn specific material.

What are correlations and experimental studies?

Correlations allow you to predict events that are likely to occur

in the classroom.A correlation is a number that indicates both

the strength and the direction of a relationship between twoevents or measurements. The closer the correlation is to either

1.00 or –1.00,t he stronger the relationship.Exper imental studies

can indicate cause-and-effect relationships and should help

teachers implement useful changes.Instead of just observing and

describing an existing situation, the investigators introduce

changes and note the results.

What are single-subject and microgenetic studies? In

single-subject experimental designs, researchers examine the ef-

fects of treatments on one person, often by using a baseline/inter-

vention/baseline/intervention or ABAB approach. Microgenetic

studies take many detailed observations of subjects to track the

progression of change from the very beginning until a process

becomes stable.

Distinguish between principles and theories. A princi-

ple is an established relationship between two or more factors—

between a certain teaching strategy, for example,and student

achievement.A theory is an interrelated set of concepts that is

SUMMARY

TO THE RESEARCHThe Summer 2000 issue of Educational Psychologist, 35 (3), is devoted to“School Reform and Research in Edu-cational Psychology”with articles aboutteaching science and mathematics, aswell as articles in teacher preparationand professional development.





used to explain a body of data and to make predictions about the

results of future experiments.The principles from research offer

a number of possible answers to specific problems,and the

theories offer perspectives for analyzing almost any situation

that may arise.

What is action research? When teachers or schools makesystematic observations or test out methods to improve teaching

and learning for their students,they are conducting action

research.

Action Research, 14

Case Study, 11

Correlations, 11

Descriptive Studies, 10

Educational Psychology, 8Ethnography, 10

Experimentation, 11

Expert Teachers, 5

Microgenetic Studies, 12

Negative Correlation, 11

Participant Observation, 11

Positive Correlation, 11

Principle, 13

Random, 11

Reflective, 5Single-subject Experimental

Studies, 12

Statistically Significant, 11

Subjects, 11

Theory, 13

Key Terms



Write the letter of the correct definition beside the word.1. _______ Educational psychology

2. _______ Action research

3. _______ Positive correlation

4. _______ Expert teachers

5. _______ Descriptive studies

a. Reports a direct relationship between two variables

b. Observation and evaluation of teaching methodology

intended to improve the learning for all students

c. Has the primary goal to understand and improve education

d. Intends to collect extensive information about specific situ-

ations, using observation, surveys,recordings, or a combi-

nation of these methods

e. Possess extensive knowledge of the teaching process and

develop solutions for common classroom problems6. Harme and Pianta (2001) found a positive correlation between

the quality of early teacher-child relationships and later school

performance.What type of research was most likely used to

collect the data for this study?

a. Descriptive studies

b. Single subject experimentation studies

c. Experimentation

d. None of the above

7. Darling-Hammond (2000) concluded “the higher the percent-

age of teachers with full certification and a major in their

teaching field, the higher is their students’ achievement in

math and science.” This finding represents a:

a. Reflective statement

b. Negative correlationc. Positive correlation

d. Case study

8. Good teaching must include a:a. Commitment to students

b. Understanding of subjects and students’thinking

c. Ability to make abstract concepts understandable

d. Caring nature willing to understand the emotional needs

of students

e. All of the above

9. Peterson and Comeaux (1989) argue the quality of teachers’

professional knowledge and their ability to be aware of their

own thinking makes them experts. One of the essential tasks

for “professional teachers”committed to growing into experts

is to:

a. Rely on personal experiences as the primar y means to grow

and shape teaching practices

b. Maintain consistent content and pedagogy practices fromyear to year

c. Use research to understand and improve teaching

d. View expert teaching as a rigid and fixed practice.Teachers

should not reinvent knowledge supported by past research

10. According to Woolfolk (2003),what do beginning teachers

report as the most serious challenge they face?

a. Maintaining classroom discipline

b. Motivating students

c. Accommodating differences among the students

d. Dealing with parents

e. All of the above

Do you believe that teachers make a difference?

What examples from your own education mightsupport that view?

REFLECT


CHECK YOURSELF: MODULE 1

Date: Name:



www.ablongman.com/woolfolk CLUSTER 1: Teachers, Teaching, and Educational Psychology17

Teachers’ Casebook

What Would They Do?

Here is how some practicing teachers responded to the

teaching situation presented at the beginning of this cluster about establishing a “Teaching Excellence Award.”

Madya AyalaHigh School Teacher of Preperatoria Eugenio Garza

Lagüera, Campus Garza Sada, Monterrey, N.L. Mexico

The first thing that I would propose is to establish a set of

selection criteria. We know that all teachers have strengths

and weaknesses and what works the best for each of us.

The set of evaluation criteria could change from time to

time depending on international, national, and local needs

and values. These factors would influence the interpreta-

tion of a teacher’s psychological, pedagogical, and episte-

mological strengths as well.

Length of experience should not be a factor, only excel-

lence in performance as a teacher. The main objectiveshould be to make teachers aware of what is expected of

them and to set the best examples.

Katie Churchill Third Grade Teacher, Oriole Parke Elementary School,

Chicago, Illinois

I would prepare for the meeting by researching how other

schools have chosen recipients for similar awards in the

past. I would recommend that we select different categories

of “excellence” to decide who will be nominated for the

awards. I would suggest that we choose recipients fairly,

based on their teaching abilities. Finally, I would recom-

mend that we have student input regarding which teachers

should receive these awards.

Carey PerksonSecond Grade Teacher, Brown School, Natick, Massachusetts

I would have a discussion with the experienced teachers be-

fore our committee meeting to pinpoint what qualifications

we are looking for in our candidates. Establishing a defini-

tion of “excellence in teaching” and constructing a list of

recommendations should be a priority of the committee to

ensure that all committee members are looking for the same

qualifications. By constructing a list of key qualities and

accomplishments for each nominee, we would be able to

assess who would be the most qualified for the award.

Denise Ready

Second Grade Teacher, Snug Harbor Community School,Quincy, Massachusetts

My preparation for this meeting would be to come up with

the following list of what I believe are indicators of excel-

lent teaching. An excellent teacher:

Loves children.

Respects all children and parents under all circumstances.

Sees potential in all children.

Motivates students to reach their highest potential.

Is a spontaneous and creative educator who is able to

see a teachable moment and seize the opportunity to go

with it.

Has a sense of humor.

Aimee FredetteSecond Grade Teacher, Fisher Elementary School, Walpole,

Massachusetts

There are many facets to being an effective teacher, the

foremost being that the teacher will reach all children no

matter what it takes. Effective teachers will modify curricu-

lum and instruction to allow all ability levels to feel success

and to foster a learning environment that builds the self-

esteem of their students. This environment and confidence

will encourage children to succeed at their own attempts

to learn.

Effective teachers, regardless of philosophy, will excite

and spark the children’s interest. This will help the children

to develop their own motivation for learning. I also feel that

teachers should fully support the placement of all childreninto their classroom, regardless of abilities. To be effective,

teachers will appropriately modify and implement assign-

ments to meet those levels. A positive learning experience

is created with a cooperative relationship among teachers,

students, and home.

Go to the Companion Website (www.ablongman.com/woolfolk) for additional case studies including audioand video cases,and examples of student work.

cluster 1 about teacher

Documents